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American Morning

Interview With Bombing Victim

Aired June 02, 2003 - 08:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: This is videotape just in to us from Murphy, North Carolina. A short time ago, perhaps 30 minutes, maybe 45 minutes ago, Eric Robert Rudolph was taken out of that jail in Murphy, transported under heavy security to this helicopter to be flown to Asheville, North Carolina.
Rudolph is charged in a series of bombings, including the attack five years ago on a clinic that performs abortions in Birmingham, Alabama. An off duty police officer was killed that day and the clinic's head nurse, Emily Lyons, was critically injured. She lost an eye in the bombing.

Emily Lyons is with us, along with her husband Jeffrey today, to talk about Rudolph's capture from over the weekend.

Good morning to both of you.

EMILY LYONS, BOMBING VICTIM: Good morning.

JEFFREY LYONS, BOMBING VICTIM'S HUSBAND: Good morning.

HEMMER: Nice to see you.

I want to roll a piece of videotape here from 1998 in which I thought you showed a lot of courage. About five weeks after the bombing, this is you being wheeled in to meet members of the media. You're looking at that today and you're thinking what, Emily?

EMILY LYONS: I was looking pretty rough back then. You know, I look back now and I can't believe I did it. I mean it was so out of character for me.

HEMMER: How so?

EMILY LYONS: I had been a very quiet person, I didn't like to speak to crowds or groups or anything. So being up in front of, I think, maybe 50 cameras that day didn't bother me.

HEMMER: Could you see anything that day?

EMILY LYONS: No, nothing. I could see light, but I couldn't see anything else.

HEMMER: Did that give you perhaps more courage?

EMILY LYONS: It probably did. You know, not knowing how many people were out there helped. HEMMER: When did you get the call this weekend?

EMILY LYONS: A few minutes before seven Saturday morning one of our friends called and said there was something on TV that might, we might want to watch about Eric. And so my husband said well, what do you think on Saturday morning would be worth watching on TV at this time of the morning? And it was Rudolph.

HEMMER: You're speaking now with a smile. Tell me about that.

EMILY LYONS: This smile hasn't left my face since Saturday morning. We're glad that part's over. You know, we've waited five years for this day and if he is the one that is guilty of this, we want the legal system to provide appropriate punishment for him.

HEMMER: Is it true that every day you've looked in the mirror since that day and thought about the alleged bomber?

EMILY LYONS: Well, yes, because every day he's with me. My face is damaged and when I see it, I know who did it to me. The rest of my body, I look at it and it's not the body I used to have and the only reason I don't have what I did is because someone disagreed with what I believed in.

HEMMER: This clinic that performs abortions, had there ever been any threats against this particular place in Birmingham?

EMILY LYONS: We had had a couple of fake bomb packages in the mail, but nothing particularly before that time. After that time, they did receive several phone calls and some anthrax letters.

HEMMER: Your husband Jeffrey is here with us. Eighteen operations for Emily.

JEFFREY LYONS: Yes.

HEMMER: Was there a point that it got the lowest?

JEFFREY LYONS: Most people crash after about six months. That, it takes about six months for you to really have time for it to soak in what's happening, because the rehabilitation is to intensive. And after about six months, she pretty well hit a low. But she did amazingly well. All of the people who worked with her always talked about how willing she was to jump into whatever was next. Of course, she went through most of this completely blind and still had a very determined spirit all the way through.

HEMMER: Yes. Have you ever met a gentleman by the name of Robert Sanderson?

EMILY LYONS: Yes, he was the police officer providing security that day.

HEMMER: What do you remember about him?

EMILY LYONS: A very gentle, quiet man. A police officer that knew what his duties were at the clinic, and that was to protect us and to keep down any conflicts between patients, significant others and the protesters.

HEMMER: Have you ever met this eyewitness that apparently gave the single...

EMILY LYONS: No.

HEMMER: Never?

EMILY LYONS: Never.

HEMMER: Apparently an eyewitness saw a truck drive away from the scene when everybody else was going toward it...

EMILY LYONS: Right.

HEMMER: ... with North Carolina tags. It was later traced to Eric Robert Rudolph.

EMILY LYONS: Right.

HEMMER: Never met the person?

EMILY LYONS: Never met him.

HEMMER: Man or woman?

EMILY LYONS: Don't know who he is.

HEMMER: Would you testify at trial if it goes that far?

EMILY LYONS: I would love to go. I don't know if I would have anything to testify about.

HEMMER: Why not?

EMILY LYONS: I don't remember anything. So I, you know, I just have a damaged body from what this person did to me.

HEMMER: That's to you.

EMILY LYONS: Thank you.

HEMMER: Emily and Jeffrey Lyons, thank you for coming and sharing your story with us today.

JEFFREY LYONS: Thank you for having us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 2, 2003 - 08:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: This is videotape just in to us from Murphy, North Carolina. A short time ago, perhaps 30 minutes, maybe 45 minutes ago, Eric Robert Rudolph was taken out of that jail in Murphy, transported under heavy security to this helicopter to be flown to Asheville, North Carolina.
Rudolph is charged in a series of bombings, including the attack five years ago on a clinic that performs abortions in Birmingham, Alabama. An off duty police officer was killed that day and the clinic's head nurse, Emily Lyons, was critically injured. She lost an eye in the bombing.

Emily Lyons is with us, along with her husband Jeffrey today, to talk about Rudolph's capture from over the weekend.

Good morning to both of you.

EMILY LYONS, BOMBING VICTIM: Good morning.

JEFFREY LYONS, BOMBING VICTIM'S HUSBAND: Good morning.

HEMMER: Nice to see you.

I want to roll a piece of videotape here from 1998 in which I thought you showed a lot of courage. About five weeks after the bombing, this is you being wheeled in to meet members of the media. You're looking at that today and you're thinking what, Emily?

EMILY LYONS: I was looking pretty rough back then. You know, I look back now and I can't believe I did it. I mean it was so out of character for me.

HEMMER: How so?

EMILY LYONS: I had been a very quiet person, I didn't like to speak to crowds or groups or anything. So being up in front of, I think, maybe 50 cameras that day didn't bother me.

HEMMER: Could you see anything that day?

EMILY LYONS: No, nothing. I could see light, but I couldn't see anything else.

HEMMER: Did that give you perhaps more courage?

EMILY LYONS: It probably did. You know, not knowing how many people were out there helped. HEMMER: When did you get the call this weekend?

EMILY LYONS: A few minutes before seven Saturday morning one of our friends called and said there was something on TV that might, we might want to watch about Eric. And so my husband said well, what do you think on Saturday morning would be worth watching on TV at this time of the morning? And it was Rudolph.

HEMMER: You're speaking now with a smile. Tell me about that.

EMILY LYONS: This smile hasn't left my face since Saturday morning. We're glad that part's over. You know, we've waited five years for this day and if he is the one that is guilty of this, we want the legal system to provide appropriate punishment for him.

HEMMER: Is it true that every day you've looked in the mirror since that day and thought about the alleged bomber?

EMILY LYONS: Well, yes, because every day he's with me. My face is damaged and when I see it, I know who did it to me. The rest of my body, I look at it and it's not the body I used to have and the only reason I don't have what I did is because someone disagreed with what I believed in.

HEMMER: This clinic that performs abortions, had there ever been any threats against this particular place in Birmingham?

EMILY LYONS: We had had a couple of fake bomb packages in the mail, but nothing particularly before that time. After that time, they did receive several phone calls and some anthrax letters.

HEMMER: Your husband Jeffrey is here with us. Eighteen operations for Emily.

JEFFREY LYONS: Yes.

HEMMER: Was there a point that it got the lowest?

JEFFREY LYONS: Most people crash after about six months. That, it takes about six months for you to really have time for it to soak in what's happening, because the rehabilitation is to intensive. And after about six months, she pretty well hit a low. But she did amazingly well. All of the people who worked with her always talked about how willing she was to jump into whatever was next. Of course, she went through most of this completely blind and still had a very determined spirit all the way through.

HEMMER: Yes. Have you ever met a gentleman by the name of Robert Sanderson?

EMILY LYONS: Yes, he was the police officer providing security that day.

HEMMER: What do you remember about him?

EMILY LYONS: A very gentle, quiet man. A police officer that knew what his duties were at the clinic, and that was to protect us and to keep down any conflicts between patients, significant others and the protesters.

HEMMER: Have you ever met this eyewitness that apparently gave the single...

EMILY LYONS: No.

HEMMER: Never?

EMILY LYONS: Never.

HEMMER: Apparently an eyewitness saw a truck drive away from the scene when everybody else was going toward it...

EMILY LYONS: Right.

HEMMER: ... with North Carolina tags. It was later traced to Eric Robert Rudolph.

EMILY LYONS: Right.

HEMMER: Never met the person?

EMILY LYONS: Never met him.

HEMMER: Man or woman?

EMILY LYONS: Don't know who he is.

HEMMER: Would you testify at trial if it goes that far?

EMILY LYONS: I would love to go. I don't know if I would have anything to testify about.

HEMMER: Why not?

EMILY LYONS: I don't remember anything. So I, you know, I just have a damaged body from what this person did to me.

HEMMER: That's to you.

EMILY LYONS: Thank you.

HEMMER: Emily and Jeffrey Lyons, thank you for coming and sharing your story with us today.

JEFFREY LYONS: Thank you for having us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com